Gilly
Gillies are genetically modified creatures that are able to survive on land and in the deepest waters. They have gills on their necks so they can breathe underwater, webbed hands and feet to propel themselves through water faster, pointed ears, and shark-like teeth. They are able to switch from using their lungs to breathe on land and their gills to breathe in water. The degree of sexual dimorphism in gillies is similar to the degree of differences in humans. On average, male gillies are larger than females and male gillies’ ears are longer than their female counterparts. The average heights of gillies are five feet for male gillies and four and a half feet for female gillies. The average life expectancy for a male gilly is forty years and forty-eight years for a female gilly. Even though gillies have all of the same reproductive parts as humans, gillies cannot reproduce naturally. Gillies are omnivores. Their diets mainly consist of seafood and the jelly supplement Derpin Corp. provides for them, but they can eat anything humans can eat. Gillies spend most of their days working in the ocean, but they return to land to sleep and eat. Gillies live in barracks in designated gilly areas, called gilly camps, and are not allowed to live among humans. Because of their secluded communities and their limited interaction with humans, they have developed their own jargon. In January 2013, Chinese marine biologists discovered a diamond mine in the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean that contained over 35 billion carats of diamonds which was more than twenty times the amount in the world’s largest known diamond mine. This prompted Derpin Corporation, a private American biotechnology company, to begin researching and developing a creature that could travel to the Mariana Trench in the place of humans. Derpin Corp. struck a deal with the majority of the fertility clinics around the world to buy the frozen embryos that were meant to be destroyed. After a year and a half, the biotech firm was able to successfully grow the first gilly in a test tube. When Derpin Corp. first unveiled the gilly to the world, the company and fertility clinics faced heavy criticism for its use of human embryos without consent. However, the public forgave both parties when the first gillies retrieved the first crate of diamonds. Thousands of gillies are currently being grown in test tubes in Derpin’s many laboratories around the world. It takes approximately four months to grow the gillies to full size in the test tubes and another month to train the gillies how to mine and bring back diamonds. Each gilly is programmed to speak English and is microchipped with a tracking device before it leaves its test tube. Immediately after leaving their test tubes, all gillies are given the same clothes. Both male and female gillies are given two of the same wetsuit uniforms for work and two of the same outfits to wear on land. After a gilly is finished with training, it is assigned to a gilly camp and bunk in a barrack, and begins mining diamonds. There are currently 1.1 million gillies in the world right now. Rachel D.